This review comes at a time more relevant than ever, really,
I’m not just Putin you on! Russia is invading Ukraine and the United States is
faced with tough decisions. We don’t want to go to war with Mother Russia so we
issue sanctions that will hurt their economy and hopefully get them back under
control. The Final Sanction does not deal with a sanction that will effect
Russia’s economics, it's about kicking Soviet ass! The Cold war ended in 1985 but this film was released by AIP in 1990 and
was directed by David A Prior. It stars his brother Ted Prior, best known for his
infamous role in the film Deadly Prey as the shirtless jorts (jean shorts) wearing Danton.
Meet the Hero, Sgt. Tom Botanical Gardens
Ted Prior much like in Deadly Prey plays a soldier, who is the best of the best. His name is Sgt. Tom Botanic (just remember only his friends call him Thomas) and he’s been framed for a crime he didn’t
commit. He was court marshaled and sent to prison for killing Americans within his own platoon.He gets pardoned for his crime by
the president and taken out of jail for his cooperation in a top
secret military operation. This is one of the most far fetched premises for a
film ever, so bear with me. USA and Russia have agreed to put their best
two fighters up against each other in a match to the death so they can settle
their country’s differences. So who will take on Botanic? None other than Rob "The Face"
Z’Dar, who you know from countless crap fests (classics) like Samurai Cop, Soultaker, and
Hellhole . Z’Dar does his best Russian accent as Sgt. Sergi Schvackov, while he trains under Maj. Galashkin
played by William Smith. William Smith is becoming one of my favorite
character actors (he’s everywhere) especially after recently seeing him take on Fred "The Hammer" Williamson in Boss Nigger, try to kill Gary
Busey in Eye of the Tiger and worship Satan in the super low budget gem
GETEVEN, by John De Hart.
He destroyed my Matryoshka dolls!
Comrade Z'Dar has to pass the most sophisticated and
technological advanced training, including a machine that tries to destroy his
sanity and force him to blow his brains out through a series of nightmarish illusions. He’s the only man to ever survive
that device set to level 10.
"A Blockhead Orange"
If you want someone to blow their brains out, you need David Hess.
Botanic is forced to go under surgery against his
will, a tracking device is inserted into his body and a chip that lets one of
the officers communicate directly into his brain. He’s not too happy about this. The officer that’s assigned to communicate with him is Lt. Tavlin, ( Renée Cline) a female, at first they
don’t get along very well, he calls her Dragon Lady and when he gets to
nasty
she has the ability to shock him, ouch! The problems keep piling up, his
rival Lt. Willy Gross is in charge of briefing him on the mission and
giving him tactical advice. Lt. Willy is a real dick wad! Before Botanic
heads out into the field,he convinces the Lieutenant
to let him pick out his own weapons of choice which includes a
roll of quarters. What the hell is he going to use those for? (you’re
on pins
and needles now aren’t ya?) As Willy leaves, Botanic asks him "How does
it feel to always come in second?" and then motions a kissing gesture at
him, oh that Botanic.
"How'd they get a chip in my brain by cutting into my side?"
Big Willy (is that a young Tarantino?)
The battle begins, the two men are dispatched into a
designated fighting ground. One of Sergi’s specialties is throwing little
shovels and he's the first to strike cutting Botanic’s arm. Sergi somehow
manages to jam radar and disappear, from a tree he corners Botanic,
could this be the end? Hell no, Botanic then sets off a trip wire causing an explosive that forces
Sergi to flee the scene and he lives to fight another day. Lt. Tavlin acts as his eyes and ears and once the Dragon Lady bit gets old, they begin to form a bond. So Tommy Botanic has a sensitive
side after all. If someone could only let him know that Tavlin may be good from far, but far from good.
What other "skills" does this Botanic have?
If I get out of this alive, I'm going to need a bag for her head!
A nosey senator is pressing the general in charge, Gen. Royston (David Fawcett) for information about
this mission but it’s so hush hush that he gets nothing. When the senator starts putting
the pieces of the puzzle together (mostly with the help of his secretary), the dirty military asshole rigs a bomb to the good senator’s car, but unfortunately he sends his secretary out to runan errand and with the turn of the key she’s blown to bits.
Mind your own business senator nosey.
After more fighting, Botanic claims victory when he leads Sergi into an exploding
building, This is where the quarters come into action, they were placed into
the shape of a smiley face to mock Sergi right before he blows up. "Yippee ki-yay" becomes "have a nice day, motherfucker." However
being the super indestructible soldier that Sergi was trained to be, he manages to
miraculously escape with only one side of his face barbecued.
The quarters of death!
Like a burnt marshmallow!
When both fighters finally come face to face ( face
to face with Z’Dar, talk about intimidating), they throw down their
weapons in true macho fashion, so they can fight like men. David A.Prior should have
directed an unauthorized sequel to "Face Off", Imagine if Z’Dar’s face was
transplanted on John Travolta's head!!! It’s not likely Travolta would participate, so maybe
the perfect choice for a cheapie like that would be Joe Estevezanyway!
Face/Off 2: More Facier than ever!
Botanic does his one, two, three, -punch- you’re out routine,
but Sergi replies, “I don’t like baseball”. Since that didn’t work, Botanic
gives him a swift kick to the balls and before Sergi passes out from the pain
he delivers one last super punch to Botanic’s face. Both men drop to the
floor, when they wake up, something strange occurs, they awake with a new found
respect for each other. Do they fall in love and skip into the sunset? Bring
peace to America and Russia? Or, do they realize they’re part of some bullshit conspiracy
and team up to bring vengeance upon their senior officers' Royston and Galashkin that put them in this
fucked up situation? Hmmmmm.
While your fighting, care to order some Timelife books?
The Last Sanction is guilty of stealing from many mainstream
action films. There are traces of Rambo, Escape From New York, Rocky IV and Die
Hard. It has stock footage and lots of Atari style graphics representing
America and Russia’s latest technology. There is never a dull moment in the
film, constant crappy lines of dialogue and badly shot action scenes give actionsploitaion
fans something to snicker about every five minutes. Z’Dar fans will marvel
at his performance as the Russia Sgt. Schvackov. To fans of the actionsploitation genre, I can’t
recommend this enough.
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